Bob Dylan - Recently Updated Pages

Web Haunts

TheShelter — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:49:37 CDT

Bob Dylan Web Links

The web has been a comforting haven for Dylan fans since Al Gore first thunked it up. We’ve compiled a starter list of shrines to Dylan and his music. Don’t see your haunts? Click the EasyEdit button and add ‘em!

Bob Dylan: bobdylan.com
The official Dylan site includes a discography, lyrics, sound files, tour dates, and a music store.

Down the Highway
Excellent fan site especially strong in current Dylan news.

Chainki wiki
There are a lot of useful Dylan links on this excellent site!

Expecting Rain
Expect plenty of Bob Dylan info, lyrics, records, a who’s who and atlas for song elements and influences, fan art gallery, concert reviews, and more discussion nodes than you can shake a stick at.

Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Homepage
The Bringing It All Back Homepage provides a wealth of Dylan links to other sites, reviews, interviews, articles; as well as the de rigueur lyrics, tour information, FAQ, and other “Odds and Ends.”

Dylanchords.com: Bob Dylan Chords and Lyrics
A comprehensive site tended by so-called “self-ordained professors” of Dylan, inclusive of essays, chords, lyrics, and tablature (including outtakes, live versions, covers, and alternate lyrics) to the songs from Dylan's albums.

Dylanstubs.com: The Bob Dylan Ticket Stub and Concert Poster Archive
Over 3000 scans of concert tickets and posters submitted by fans just like you!

American Masters: Bob Dylan
This PBS companion site to Martin Scorsese's biopic No Direction Home includes additional footage, a timeline, the Scorsese interview, a biography, and influences and fan concert maps.

ISIS Homepage
Established in 1985, ISIS is now the longest-running Bob Dylan journal still in print.

BobsBoots: Bob Dylan Bootlegs
The Bob Dylan Bootleg Museum is the clearinghouse for Dylan bootlegs — well researched, cavernous, and as complete a reference as you’ll find on the web.

The Time 100: Bob Dylan
Reviewer and screenwriter Jay Cocks waxes biographical about Bob Dylan’s career and impact on American music, as one of 20 artists and entertainers identified by Time as “pioneers of human expression” in the 20th century.

SlopBucket.com: The Book of Bob
Search a comprehensive archive of Bob's song lyrics and writings (liner notes, raps, poems, prose, letters, and other “broken thoughts”).

BBC Music: Bob Dylan
BBC Music hosts an in-depth guide to Bob Dylan, featuring profiles and biographies, a timeline, video and images, and reviews.

Roots of Bob Dylan
Though collecting some dust (appears to have last been updated in 2001), the site takes an information-packed dive into the musical roots and influences of Bob.

The Dylan Pool
Dylanomaniacs from around the world compete in a fantasy pool to predict the songs our man plays in concert.

YouThink.com: Personality Quiz
Answer five multiple-choice questions to determine which Bob Dylan song you are.

Topix.net: Bob Dylan News
News about Bob Dylan continually updated from sources (including fans) from around the ‘net.

VH1.com: Bob Dylan
VH1.com presents complete artist information on Bob Dylan, including news, a bio, message boards, song clips, and more. Sign up to get free Dylan e-mail updates from VH1.

A Bob Dylan Timeline
This comprehensive visual and textual timeline is impressive — great images of Dylan and content sourced from Absolutely Dylan, by Patrick Humphries and John Bauldie.

NPR: Bob Dylan: A Conversation
NPR's Steve Inskeep gets a rare interview with Bob Dylan upon the release of his 2004 book Chronicles: Volume One. Listen to audio clips from the interview, read the first chapter of the book, and dive deeper into the NPR closet of Dylan stories. We love NPR!

Bob Dylan Quizzes and Trivia
The self-proclaimed “World’s largest trivia site” certainly doesn’t disappoint in the Dylan category. Enjoy sixteen different quizzes ranging from easy to tough.

Bob Links
Bill Pagel is a phenom! Bob Links provides a comprehensive record of his live shows, including detailed inventories of venue information, highlights, reviews, and set lists. Bravo.

XGuitar.com
Bob Dylan guitar and bass tabs by album

Dylan Images
Comprehensive site of Bob Dylan CDR Artwork

Bob Dylan's Original Lyrics
Great site from Japan with many of Dylan's original lyrics.

Bob Dylan - English Wikipedia
The entry for Bob Dylan in the English Wikipedia

The Shelter

Dylan Books

JRobelen — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:08:17 CDT

This section is for reviewing Bob Dylan related books. You are encouraged to add a page about any Dylan related book. Then add your thoughts about the book on the page.

YouTube Videos

jobblasco — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:27:30 CDT


Hurricane - Live	Man of Constant Sorrow

Masters of War	All I Really Want to Do

Bob Dylan ISIS Magazine

tracybarker — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:33:17 CDT

ISIS is the longest running Bob Dylan magazine still in print. Established since 1985, our aim is to provide Dylan enthusiasts with a comprehensive magazine regarding all aspects of Dylan's life and work. Columns include reviews of book, CD and DVD releases, and Henry Porter's unofficial CD column, which aims to review every bootleg Dylan CD released worldwide. We publish exclusive articles, interviews and rare and exclusive photographs of Bob Dylan. In fact, ISIS is everything you will ever need in a Dylan magazine. ISIS magazine is published every two months, with the option of our "Dylan In Between" newsletter, which provides our readers with a monthly mailing. For subscription information, please see our ISIS subscriptions page.

About The Editor

Renowned authority on the life and works of Bob Dylan, Derek Barker founded the international Bob Dylan magazine ISIS in September 1985 and has edited this highly respected journal uninterruptedly for nearly twenty-five years. ISIS magazine is sold through this website and has subscribers in 32 countries. Over the years, Barker has contributed regularly to BBC Radio programs on Bob Dylan and has been featured on the BBC World Service, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio Northern Ireland, BBC Radio Scotland as well as dozens of local radio stations. He has also appeared on the BBC 2 television program 'The Culture Show' and Channel 4s Breakfast News talking about Bob Dylan. Derek has also had three books published, the first book, a collection of writings and interviews from the back pages of ISIS. 'ISIS: A Bob Dylan Anthology' (Helter Skelter Publishing, 2001) received first rate reviews. It sold out a hardback edition and two paperback printings and a 2004 revised edition. The second collection of writings from ISIS, Bob Dylan Anthology 2 - 20 Years of ISIS, (Chrome Dreams, 2005) is a bumper 368-page book, which was published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ISIS magazine. This book is still in print. Barker's latest book The Songs He Didn't Write - Bob Dylan Under The Influence (Chrome Dreams 2008) has received rave reviews from Dylan fans and the monthlies alike. Barker has had his writings on Bob Dylan published in journals in England, the USA and Japan. He has worked on a number of CD and film projects with his current publisher, Chrome Dreams. Barker’s status as an expert on all things Dylan is such that he regularly advises premier auction house Christie’s (both in London and New York) on the authenticity of items of Dylan memorabilia. Further details regarding ISIS see our SUBSCRIPTIONS Sample Issues available to purchase from our online store

An Argument for Bob Dylan

gypsynester — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:03:02 CST

What are the chances? Driving along and there you see a big sign flashing "Bob Dylan in concert." He is, after all, truly a living legend. Since I have never seen him and I might not get another chance, I thought I'd be an idiot not to grab this opportunity. Veronica wasn't overly thrilled since she had seen him several times before (her dad is the quintessential old hippy making the annual Dylan pilgrimage). I tried to think of some provocative ways to sell her on the idea of spending a hundred bucks and a couple hours of her life listening to unintelligible lyrics mumbled by a 67 year old man.

I tried the living legend idea but she had seen him before, so...as we talked about it, I stumbled on what I think is the real reason for anyone to be interested in seeing Dylan, even if they don't particularly care for his music. Few people in the history of the arts ever make significant changes in the way their medium is executed. Bob Dylan is one of those few. He fundamentally changed the way songs are written, not musically, but lyrically. There is a noticeable difference between songs before and after his influence. Before Dylan, lyrics told stories in a clear, straightforward manner. The use of imagery was mostly confined to the music itself, with melody and chord structure. He changed that. Now it is common for the lyrics to be used as a vehicle to "paint a picture" as much as the feel and form of the music. Bob Dylan had a huge hand in making that happen. This point made an impact on Veronica and now she was actually looking forward to the show (I wisely decided not to remind her that she wouldn't be able to decipher a word the man sings--lest I lose the whole lyrics argument).

We arrived just before showtime without tickets and by complete dumb luck got seats in the third row that were somehow overlooked in the advance sales. What can I say, we lead a charmed life. The first thing I noticed upon entering the arena was the crowd. It's been a long, long time since I have been to a big stadium Rock concert but I still remember what it was like...and this wasn't it. I actually felt like one of the younger ones there. This was probably a good thing. No mosh pits, groupies, biker security or clouds of pot smoke to obscure the reason we came. There was, however, a quite large contingency of younger kids from the local college willing to stand though the entire show in exchange for the cheaper ticket prices. Perhaps that's where some secret herbal fires were burning. It did seem like a small whiff drifted by now and then.

As for the show itself, it was pretty much what I expected, except that Dylan has reinvented himself as a keyboard player on this tour. He only touched a guitar on a couple songs and used the harmonica mainly to add a little color here and there. The crowd went wild every time he touched the harp though, so it worked.

Dylan's been known to do entire shows of songs only a hardcore fan would recognize so we were happy to be graced with some classics like "Highway 61 Revisited", "Like A Rolling Stone", "It's All Over Now Baby Blue", "Maggie's Farm" and "All Along The Watchtower". All nostalgic, bring-you-back-to-a-certain-place-and-time classics. For Veronica, an especially fond memory occurred during "Rainy Day Woman #12 and #35" (huh?, oh yeah, "Everybody Must Get Stoned") remembering her mother's shock that her father was listening to "that song" in front of the children. Daddy easily explained it off as a song about Jesus, which is funny because it's (kinda) true. A fine little childhood memory, that made Veronica smile.
It can be a bit off-putting how Dylan never acknowledges his audience, almost like watching a rehearsal. You can see that as good or bad, personally I find something to like in it. The lighting is sparse--you never really get a good look at him, the stage very pared-down. It's almost as if the crowd is an afterthought. I can see how after several decades of performing these songs he might purposely phrase his lyrics so that it doesn't turn into a sing along. It also occurred to me that the college kids (and some of the old hippies) should stop shouting out requests of favorite songs, because it might make him all the LESS likely to play them.

Dylan wasn't vibrant, yet he didn't seem like an "old guy", either. As Veronica noted, he "oozed cool". He is after all, as his introduction stated, "the poet laureate of rock 'n roll. The voice of the promise of the 60s counterculture. The guy who forced folk into bed with rock, who donned makeup in the 70s and disappeared into a haze of substance abuse and emerged to find Jesus."

And the band kicked ass.

David, GypsyNester.com

David & Veronica are experiencing the collision of baby boomer with empty nester. They have decided to grab life by the horns, sell the nest and become GypsyNesters.
Read more at www.GypsyNester.com

Lucky Luke

folkrockman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:04:42 CST

Bootleg Consisting of Studio Outtakes From Pat Garret & Billy the Kid Sessions

Mexico City
1. Billy 1
2. Billy 2
3. Turkey
4. Tom Turkey
5. Billy Surrenders
6. And He's Killed Me Too
7. Good-bye Holly
8. Pecos Blues 1
9. Pecos Blues 2
10. Billy

Burbank
1. Knockin' On Heaven's Door 1
2. Sweet Amarillo
3. Knockin' On Heaven's Door 2
4. Knockin' On Heaven's Door 3
5. Final Theme 1
6. Final Theme 2
7. Rock Me Mama 1
8. Rock Me Mama 2
9. Billy-7 1
10. Billy-7 2
11. Instrumental
12. Instrumental
13. Final Theme 3
14. Final Theme 4

Lyrics

mailboxislocked — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:10:11 CST

Lyrics at Bob Dylan's official website

Bob and the Movies!

mailboxislocked — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:08:22 CST

Actor
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Bob plays a character named Alias. It was essentially Bob's first time acting in a major role, though IMDB.com lists him as playing a character named "Bobby" in "The Madhouse on Castle Street."

Renaldo and Clara (1978)
Bob wrote and directed this film. He and his wife, Sara, played Renaldo and Clara. The film was originally four hours long, but was cut down to two hours, mostly concert footage. Very few theaters showed the film, and it has since become obscure and hard-to-find.

Hearts of Fire (1987)
Bob plays a character named Billy Parker.

Masked and Anonymous (2003)
Bob plays Jack Fate, an old, forgotten about folk singer. He is living in Mexico and is asked to play a benefit-type concert.

Documentaries
Don't Look Back (1967)
This is the iconic film by D.A. Pennebaker, who filmed most of the footage in Europe. This documentary contains the "video" for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" with the cue cards. It is critically acclaimed, and would probably be considered the Bob Dylan documentary for many people.

Eat the Document (1972)
This documentary was directed and edited by Bob. It has not been released and has been called an "editing mess" by some critics.

World Tour 1966: The Home Movies (2003)
This is a film made by Dylan's current drummer, Mickey Jones. While the film has some footage of Dylan, it is mostly Jones being interviewed and talking over top of all the footage. It seems to be more about Mickey Jones's experiences on the 1966 tour, but marketed to be about Dylan.

No Direction Home (2005)
This film, directed by Martin Scorsese, earned critical acclaim, winning a primetime Emmy. It chronicles Dylan's entire career, from his beginnings in the folk movement in the 1960's to current day.

Soundtrack
Dylan has provided music tracks for over 200 films, according to the Internet Movie Database. To see the full list, click here.

Films Inspired by Dylan
I'm Not There (2007)
While not necessarily a biopic, this film draws heavily from Dylan's personal life. Six different actors play Dylan: Carl Marcus Franklin plays young Dylan, Christian Bale plays folk-era Dylan, Cate Blanchett plays electric Dylan, Heath Ledger plays the "romantic" Dylan of the 1970's, Richard Gere plays the "outlaw" Dylan, and Ben Whishaw recites direct quotes. Directed by Todd Haynes, the film claims to be "inspired by the many lives of Bob Dylan." Much of the film contains subtle references to incidents in Dylan's life or to lyrics in his songs, so those unfamiliar to Dylan's life and music would probably not catch some of the humor or allusions. Cate Blanchett won a Golden Globe for her performance of Jude Quinn, and was nominated for many other "Best Supporting Actress" awards, including an Academy Award.

Songs

wytchcroft — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:16:25 CDT

Cross the Green mountain
.
I cross the Green Mountain
I sit by the stream
Heaven blazing in my head I
I dreamt a monsterous dream
Something came up
Out of the sea
Swept through the landof
The rich and the free
.
I look into the eyes
of my merciful friend
And then I ask myself
Is this the end?
Memories linger
Sad yet sweet
And I think of the souls in heaven who will be
.
Alters are burning
The flames far and wide
the fool has crossed over
from the other side
They tip their caps
from the top of the hill
You can feel them come
All brave blood do spill
.
Along the dim
Atlantic line
The rapper's land
lasts for miles behind
the lights coming foreward
and the streets are broad
all must yield
To the avenging God
.
The world is old
The world is great
Lessons of life
Can't be learned in a day
I watch and I wait
And I listen while I stand
To the music that comes
from a far better land
.
Close the eyes
of our Captain
Peace may he know
His long night is done
The great leader is laid low
He was ready to fall
He was quick to defend
Killed outright he was
by his own men
.
It's the last day's last hour
of the last happy year
I feel that the unknown
The world is so dear
Pride will vanish
And glory will rot
But virtue lives
and cannot be forgot
.
The bells
of evening have rung
there's blasphemy
on the end of the tongue
Let them say that I walked
in fair nature's light
And that I was loyal
to truth and to right
.
Serve God and meet your full
Look upward beyond
Beyond the darkness that masks
the surprises of dawn
In the deep green grasses
and the blood stained woods
They never dreamed of surrendering
They fell where they stood
.
Stars fell over Alabama
And I saw each star
You're walking in dreams
Whoever you are
Chilled as the skies
Keen as the frost
And the ground's froze hard
And the morning is lost
.
A letter to mother
came today
Gunshot wound to the breast
is what it did say
But he'll be better soon
He's in a hospital bed
But he'll never be better
He's already dead
.
I'm ten miles outside the city
And I'm lifted away
In an ancient light
That is not of day
They were calm they were gloomed
We knew them all too well
We loved eachother more than
we ever dared to tell

............................................................

What to people make of this?

It's definitely my fave from Tell Tale Signs...

even though the religious/biblical aspect here is as dark as anything off his 'born again' albums...

Dylan's writing just seems to be at a whole new level.

Some parts remind of me of the Civli War - some parts remind me of Lovecraft!

"Heaven blazing in my head I
I dreamt a monsterous dream
Something came up
Out of the sea
Swept through the land"

And with the music i think of Firefly/Serenity straightaway...

1983 - Infidels

wytchcroft — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:46:07 CDT

Infidels (1983)

Jokerman
Sweetheart Like You
Neighborhood Bully
License to Kill
Man of Peace
Union Sundown
I and I
Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight

Notes and Reviews

The musicians: Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards), Mark Knopfler (lead guitar), Alan Clark (keyboards), Mick Taylor (guitar), Sly Dunbar (drums, percussion), Robbie Shakespeare (bass).

Reviews:

From The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia by Michael Gray:

"Infidels [1983] Another ragbag collection of insipid material, hailed in the US as a great return
to form on Dylan’s part. This is the sort of work that makes Dylan’s earlier ‘minor’ albums sound
like masterpieces. In depressing contrast to Nashville Skyline, New Morning or Planet Waves, there is
on Infidels generally no warmth, no unity and no sense that real music is being created and played
for pleasure by people who know what they want. There is instead the unwelcome return of the
portentous quality of the evangelical albums of 1979–80, while the production is half-hearted and
irresolute. It is Dylan beginning to say that he doesn’t really want to write songs or make records
any more, and to behave as if it hardly matters whether an album is any good or not. This is not a
welcome stance from a great artist. As with Shot of Love, its predecessor, it needn’t have been this way:
the sessions yielded important work excluded from the release, including what is perhaps Dylan’s
greatest single recording of the 1980s, the lapidary ‘Blind Willie McTell’. Best of the released tracks: ‘I
and I’ (though this admonishes you into feeling it’s important, rather than claiming a place in
your heart) and the album’s one incontestable major success, ‘Jokerman’."

From Folkrockman --
"I couldn't disagree more with Micael Gray. Bob Dylan is SO happy! A Jamaican rhythm and Mark Knopfler on lead guitar! The vocals as bright and alive. “Jokerman” leads off with some great rock! “Neighborhood Bully” has a great drivin’ drum. “Man of Peace” has the bright Dylan blues goin’. “I and I” features Knopfler’s sweet guitar to a great Dylan tune. This album stands up and is worth a place in Dylan’s later works."

From Wytchcroft -

two great songs; I and I and Jokerman - both of which are found better on live recordings, a list of songs tat should've been released but weren't. Crass posturing and pseudo-political ranting (ala Slow Train) and an absolute lack of organic sound.

This is the one album i heard was great from the 80s, really looked forward to hearing it - and was crushed.

I actually hate it.

Best Song:
"Jokerman"
(but I really miss "B W McTell")
According to Alias

"Jokerman" is outstanding! I also like "I and I". -- Folkrockman

Favorite Lyric: "Only a matter of time til night comes steppin' in"

"One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives"
According to Alias

1979 - Slow Train Coming

wytchcroft — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:40:32 CDT

Slow Train Coming (1979)

Gotta Serve Somebody
Precious Angel
I Believe in You
Slow Train
Gonna Change My Way of Thinking
Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others)
When You Gonna Wake Up
Man Gave Names to All the Animals
When He Returns

Notes and Reviews

The musicians:

References:

Trivia:

Reviews:

From The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia by Michael Gray:

"Anyone else, riding as high as Dylan was in 1978, would have stuck with the same band and produced another Street Legal-type album. Dylan did no such thing. Converted to Born Again Christianity, he gathered different musicians around him and produced an album destined to be profoundly unpopular amongst almost everyone who’d ever valued him as a writer. It is not, however, an album that can be ignored, and in some ways now seems a logical direction for Dylan to have taken. Noone should have been surprised at Dylan choosing to add gospel to the many different modes of American popular music he has covered (and so well) on his artistic travels over the decades. Musically it’s strong, and strikingly well produced in Alabama’s Muscle Shoals Sound Studio under the supervision of veteran Atlantic Records producer JERRY WEXLER. Stand-out tracks are ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’, ‘Precious Angel’, ‘Slow Train’ and ‘When He Returns’."

Best Song:

"Slow Train"
According to Alias

I'm partial to "Gotta Serve Somebody". I think this is due to working for so long for large organizations where I always had to answer to someone.
Folkrockman

Favorite Lyric:
"Surrender your crown on this blood-stained ground, take off your mask"
According to Alias

Note:

Most people have come to terms with Dylan's born again phase and are aware that much of the work is extremely powerful - but religion aside - what will hit the unwary is the rage and the (political/social) nature of much of it. Lines like "Sheiks walking around with kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings" etc - this side of the Bob is glossed over now and is an obstacle for many listeners. Of which i am one.

Some reviews elsewhere point out that Dylan's position on the 'born again' albums is actually pretty conceited, and dylan himself seems to agree nowadays. Although it would be woefully naive to pretend the whole period has vanished like a 404 page from Bob's head. Everything he sang about (more or less) is still to be found lurking in the music he makes today.

In general however, for the casual listener, despite some great songs (which make good listening on live boots etc) the ragged edges of Dylan's work have been surrendered to a studio smog that has dated very badly.

1970 - New Morning

wytchcroft — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:31:18 CDT

New Morning (1970)

If Not for You
Day of the Locusts
Time Passes Slowly
Went to See the Gypsy
Winterlude
If Dogs Run Free
New Morning
Sign on the Window
One More Weekend
The Man in Me
Three Angels
Father of Night

Notes and Reviews

The musicians: Bob Dylan (acoustic and electric guitar), organ, piano, David Bromberg (electric guitar, dobro), Harvey Brooks (electric bass),
Ron Cornelius (electric guitar), Charlie Daniels (electric bass), Buzzy Feiten (electric guitar), Al Kooper (organ, piano, electric guitar, french horn), Russ Kunkel (drums), Billy Mundi (drums) and Hilda Harris, Albertine Robinson, Maeretha Stewart (backup vocals).

Reviews:

From The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia by Michael Gray:

"New Morning [1970] This 11th album came a bit hastily after the tenth, Self Portrait, and seemed
at the time a capitulation to the huge Dylan audience’s demand that he return to the milieu of
Blonde on Blonde. Lines like ‘The man standin’ next to me / His head was explodin’ / I was hopin’ the
pieces / Wouldn’t fall on me’ (from ‘Day of the Locusts’) seemed a bit written-to-order. And Dylan,
despite all the changes he’d gone through, had never done that before.
There’s much more going on here than this, though. Throughout the album there is a subtle
but sustained falsification of the rural/patriarchal ideas suggested here (and on Nashville Skyline): a
persistent kind of Midas touch that deliberately makes the picture here an idealised and therefore
not a real one. It shows in his going not to ‘the hills’ at the end of ‘Day of the Locusts’ but to the American
hills most artificialised by Tin Pan Alley, ‘the black hills of Dakota’. It suggests Dylan rushing off to Doris
Day; it makes his escape to the hills just a story, by making it just a joke—mere fictional allusion.
(Dylan mentions Doris Day twice in Tarantula.) Dylan’s allusion is defter than that, though, for
the Black Hills of (South) Dakota are ‘Indian country’ (as Doris sings): in fact the state’s best-known
‘great men’ include Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull and its major towns include Sioux Falls. Thus
Dylan might be said, as so often on this album, to be invoking a two-headed image, both unreal and
real: the latter a terrain associated with an ancient American culture—and one offering a starkly different
milieu and set of values from those of the honourary-degree ceremony at Princeton from
which Dylan is escaping at the end of ‘Day of the Locusts’. In 2004, Chronicles Volume One implied
that there had been an extra level of allusion at work here too: he refers to the importance, in the
Minnesota of his childhood, of the Black Hills Passion Play of South Dakota, which ‘always came to
town during the Christmas season’, and in which his own ‘first performances’ were seen; he also
says that at around the time of the making of New Morning, the feeling of invincibility that he remembered
from those performances ‘seemed a million years ago . . . a million private struggles
and difficulties ago.’ To know which is to hear a more heartfelt yearning in the lines of ‘Day of the
Locusts’ about wanting to head for those ‘black hills of Dakota’. Just as the next song, ‘Time Passes Slowly’, takes
up the story in the hills, so also it takes up the unreality suggested earlier: ‘Time passes slowly up
here in the mountains / We sit beside bridges and walk beside fountains’, warbles Dylan—and plainly,
as he’s testing whether we’ll notice, there aren’t any fountains up mountains. The very word suggests
the ideal, not the real. It offers a kind of exquisite, ethereal, pastoral conceit: a sort of Greek
mythology-land, an Elysium. Something not there. In ‘Winterlude’ the unreal becomes dominant
and explicit. The title itself implies that the album is all a show, like, in this sense, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. The rhythm is waltz-time; the cliche´s focus on a dream-world of romance, denying any corresponding
‘real life’ romance—the kind that sparkles through the Dixie Cups’ record ‘Chapel of
Love’ (‘. . . my little apple / Winterlude let’s go down to the chapel’). And it’s not only a waltz: it’s
a skating song. Dylan On Ice. This carries a further suggestion of the unreal: the ice-top as merely a
precarious covering, a sheet hiding and transforming something else. We can see this urged unreality
too in the song ‘New Morning’ itself, with its intentional things-aren’t-what-they-seem touch of
‘a country mile, or two’, while ‘The Man in Me’ has as its theme the message keep-it-all-hid. Then there
is, beyond the obvious theatrical mystique of the title ‘Sign on the Window’, a beautifully achieved
confession that even the wife-and-children may merely be a possible formula to try out: ‘Build me
a cabin in Utah / Marry me a wife, catch rainbow trout / Have a bunch of kids who call me Pa . . .’ To
clinch it, this is followed not only by a patently unconfident remark (made less positive still by its
being repeated, as if for self-persuasion): ‘That must be what it’s all about / That must be what
it’s all about’ but then by the capping touch of genius—that intentionally ingenuous little ‘Oh-ohoh-
oh!’ which Dylan puts over the end of the riff that follows. As for ‘Three Angels’, it is a song of
many facets, but what impresses straight away is its being not only surreal (a different kind of challenge
to reality) but as echoing that pop classic of false religiosity, Wink Martindale’s ‘Deck of Cards’.
The ‘real world’ in Dylan’s song passes like a pageant below the gaze of the narrator and his rather
ungainly angels. Dylan’s making them ungainly— keeping them perched up on poles wearing ‘green
robes, with wings that stick out’—is another wry confession of his intent.
The cumulative effect of all this carefully established unreality is to make New Morning very different,
in its vision, from any other Dylan album. It begins to express a new optimism-through-doubt.
He may have little to say but he has the courage to know it: and to make, to pass his time, an intelligent
critique of what he doesn’t believe in any more. New Morning says for his country persona
what ‘My Back Pages’ said about his protest persona."

Best Song: "Father of Night"
According to Alias

Folkrockman is partial to "If Not for You." He also likes "One More Weekend."

Favorite Lyric: "If dogs run free, then why not we?"
According to Alias

"I was glad to get outta' there alive!" -- Folkrockman

"Sure gonna be wet tonight on main street - hope that it don't sleet." - wytchcroft

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

wytchcroft — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:04:43 CDT

Wytchcroft's Faves

wytchcroft — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:30:34 CDT

Albert Hall 1966

The Basement Tapes

Anything from 1973 - 1978

Shot of Love

"Love And Theft"

Tell Tale Signs

wytchcroft — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:25:14 CDT

from wikipedia article...

The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 - Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006is acompilation albumbysinger-songwriter Bob Dylanand is the most recent installment of his official "bootleg series" of rare and unissued recordings.[1]It was released as both a double and (limited edition) triple album. The three disc version ofTell Tale Signsincludes a 150-page book, and some editions include a 7" vinyl single with two tracks from the set.The album spans the recording sessions forOh Mercy,World Gone Wrong,Time Out of Mind, andModern Timesas well as a number of soundtrack contributions (including 'Cross the Green Mountain' from the movieGods and Generals) and previously unreleased live tracks from 1989 through 2006.[2]The collection will also include a track from an abandoned album Dylan had started to record withDavid Brombergin 1992, and Dylan's duet withRalph Stanley, 'The Lonesome River'. AlthoughUnder the Red Sky,Good as I Been to You, andLove and Theftwere all recorded during this time period, no tracks from these sessions were included onTell Tale Signs. "Dreamin' Of You", an outtake from theTime Out of Mindsessions, was offered for free download on Bob Dylan's site and was also sent to radio stations as apromotional single. In it's first week it opened with #6 on the Billboard 200, becoming Dylan's 17th album to open in the top 10.

Of course I haven't yet heard most of this material, so the comments that follow are necessarily somewhat on the general side - starting with averygeneral thought prompted by the fact that most tracks onTell Tale Signsare fromOh Mercy,Time Out Of Mind and Modern Times...

This seems to me a strikingly canny gathering together. I've often heard Dylan's most recent three studio albums referred to as a "trilogy" - which has always seemed utterly wrong: maybe a journalistic convenience but hopelessly clumsy as a way of looking at the work. BUT, take"Love and Theft"out of the picture - asTell Tale Signsdoes: no outtakes from"LaT"are included - and putOh MercyalongsideTime Out Of MindandModern Times, and youdohave a trilogy of sorts. It isn't just that two of these are hallmark Daniel Lanois productions, either; it's that all three offer, in key respects, the same Bob Dylan: that is, the maintream-acceptable, toned-down, risk-free,respectableversion of post-1980s Bob Dylan. A wholly valid Bob Dylan, of course, but not necessarily the one who makes the most interesting or challenging albums or writes the best songs.

.

from UnCut

.
Tell Tale Signs is awash with evidence of his staggering mercuriality, his evident determination even in the studio to repeat himself as little as possible, re-takes not merely the occasion for refinement, the honing of a song into static finality, but serial re-imaginings. Witness the three versions of "Mississippi" – all of them as different from each other as they are from the one on "Love And Theft". You can hear on them the working of nuance, a successive revealing of things. Similarly fascinating are the two versions of "Can't Wait", both more desperately intimate than the Time Out Of Mind recording. The first, piano-led, is fleetingly reminiscent of Planet Waves' "Dirge", dark and unsettling. The second, with glowering organ and a vocal drenched in reverb, is a doom-laden trip, eerily reminiscent of "Under Your Spell", an unlikely collaboration with Carole Bayer Sager from Knocked Out Loaded, with a lyric that went on to become part of "Love And Theft'"s "Sugar Baby".

you'll notice that the Uncut review mention Love and Theft. Yep - everyone else has been listening to soem other record - coz there are tracks and versions from it aplenty!

wytchcroft's favourite song:

Cross the Green Mountain River

favourite lyric:

Close the eyes
of our Captain
Peace may he know
His long night is done
The great leader is laid low
He was ready to fall
He was quick to defend
Killed outright he was
by his own men...

My take on the album:

A remarkable, moving, spirited musical journey and a savage testament to Dylan's lyrical genius.

2001 - Love and Theft

wytchcroft — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:15:22 CDT

Love and Theft (2001)

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Mississippi
Summer Days
Bye and Bye
Lonesome Day Blues
Floater (Too Much to Ask)
High Water (for Charlie Patton)
Moonlight
Honest with Me
Po' Boy
Cry a While
Sugar Baby

Notes and Reviews

The musicians: Never-Ending Tour Band

Reviews:

From The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia by Michael Gray:

‘‘Love and Theft’’ [2001] This is Dylan’s 30th studio album, not counting compilations, and had
the unfortunate release date of September 11, 2001. It was his first new studio album since Time
Out of Mind four years earlier. The Dylan world seemed at once to divide into those finding it
much less substantial and those taking to it far more wholeheartedly. All agreed that the two albums
differ in nearly every respect. DANIEL LANOIS’ fingerprints are nowhere on
‘‘Love and Theft’’; the musicians used are, for the first time, Dylan’s Never-Ending Tour Band of the
day, augmented by AUGIE MEYERS and his brother; there are no obviously great songs—no equivalent
of ‘Not Dark Yet’ or ‘Highlands’. But on ‘‘Love and Theft’’ a tumult of generously packed minor songs
bump up boisterously against each other, like tuba players in a charabanc bouncing off on the
excursion of a lifetime, calling to and fro amongst themselves in excited dialogue about everything
under the sun. Dylan’s voice is almost completely shot here, yet what he does with it is most subtlely
nuanced and shrewdly judged. And he is in such a good mood! This is the warmest, most outgoing,
most good-humoured Bob Dylan album since Nashville Skyline, if not The Basement Tapes.

Rolling Stone review ...

Best Song:
"High Water" (for Charlie Patton)
According to Alias

Best Song according to wytchcroft

High Water

Sugar Baby

Mississippi

Favorite Lyric:
"'Don't reach out for me,' she said
'Can't you see I'm drownin' too?'"
According to Alias

Bob'sFriend Faves

Bob'sFriend — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:47:05 CDT

I became a Bob Dylan fan this year (2008) when he was in Spain, though I've not been in any Concert. It just happened. I think his vibration was just "blowing in the wind".
I listened to Bob Dylan since I was 15 years old and I always liked him, but know is different....It touches me more deep the way he sings some old songs now. Before he used to "scream" some songs in the way a young person wil say it, but now (in some songs) he says things in a different way, more mature, with more serenity and tenderness.

Plugged or unplugged? Both.

Favorite album : "TIME OUT OF MIND"

Favorite album cover: Time out of mind

Favorite song: The album "Time out of mind" . For me the whole album is only one song and it is Bob Dylan's Masterpiece.

Favorite lyric:
Your cracked country lips,
I still wish to kiss,
As to be by the touch of your skin.
Your magnetic movements
Still capture the minutes I'm in.

Favorite Dylan cover: Desire

My top five (would need on the desert island) discs: "Time out of mind", Highway 61, The freewheelin, Pat Garret, Hard Rain, Anotherside of Bob Dylan.

Best live recording: 1976 _ Hard Rain
1975 _ Night of the Hurricane

Best concert I ever saw... never been to one

Favorite quote:
Behind every beautiful
thing there's been some kind of pain

Anything else to add?
Songs that make me cry:
* "Time out of mind" the whole album as a single song. If "Baby stop crying" makes my heart lose a beat, the album "Time out of mind" makes my soul lose two beats.
* The album "Hard rain".

Some of the songs/lyrics that make me laugh:
"you don't read women authors, do you?"
Least that's what I think I hear her say,
"Well", I say, "how would you know
and what would it matter anyway?"
"Well", she says, "you just don't seem
like you do!"
I said, "you're way wrong."
She says, "which ones have you read then?" I say, "I read Erica Jong!"

Zack's Faves

zackbrown — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:46:23 CDT

I became a Bob Dylan fan when... I first heard "Most of the Time"

Plugged or unplugged? Both.

Favorite album of all time (if I had to choose one): Blonde on Blonde

Least favorite: Live at Budokan

Favorite album cover: Street Legal

Favorite song: Vision of Johanna

Favorite lyric: Oh, Little Boy lost/he takes himself so seriously/he brags of his misery/he likes to live dangerously/and when bringing her name up he speaks of a farewell kiss to me/he's sure got a lot of gall/to be so useless and all/muttering small talk at the wall/while I'm in the hall/How can I explain?/It's so hard to get on!/and these Visions of Johanna have kept me up/past the dawn

Favorite Dylan tribute album: I'm Not There Original Soundtrack

Favorite Dylan cover: 'When The Ship Comes In' by Marcus Carl Franklin

My Dream Dylan disc contains:

My top five (would need on the desert island) discs: Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Blood On The Tracks, Oh Mercy, and Modern Times

Favorite Dylan film: No Direction Home

Favorite "era": Electric

Best live recording: "Maggie's Farm" Live at Newport 1965

Best boots: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash complete Nashville Sessions

Best concert I ever saw... never been to one

Favorite quote:There's no black and white, left and right to me anymore; there's only up and down and down is very close to the ground. And I'm trying to go up without thinking about anything trivial such as politics. They has got nothing to do with it. I'm thinking about the general people and when they get hurt.

Favorite Dylan web sites, books: Tarantula

Favorite Dylan memorabilia: I don't have any...

Bob Dylan inspires me to...articulate, be aware of the human condition, don't be afraid of what I feel

Anything else to add?

My Love for Bob Dylan

folkrockman — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:12:41 CDT

I became a Bob Dylan fan when... I was 7 years old and I heard the opening drum to "Like a Rolling Stone"

Plugged or unplugged? Depends on my mood....most days plugged, but there's a simplicity and beauty about his early stuff

Favorite album of all time (if I had to choose one): Well clearly Highway 61 Revisited changed everything...and Blonde on Blonde has some amazing stuff too.... but honestly I'm going to go with Street Legal.... maybe not the most noteworthy or poetic, but definitely his most emotional

Least favorite: Self Portrait....

Favorite album cover: Free Wheelin'

Favorite song: Very Very hard..... I'll give my top 5 :) 1. Lay Lady Lay (it's probably the sexiest song ever written) 2. Like a Rolling Stone (pretty self explanatory) 3. Visions of Johanna 4. I want you 5. Where are you Tonight (Journey into the Dark Heat)

Favorite lyric: "His clothes are dirty, but his hands are cleans and you're the best thing that he's ever seen," or "You don't have to be afraid of looking into my face, we've done nothing to eachother time will not erase," or "as she winds back the clock and turns back the page of a book that nobody can write," or "Don't Criticize what you can't understand"

There are 7,000 more..... and it just depends on my mood at the time

Favorite Dylan tribute album: Ok it might not be a tribute album, but the soundtrack to "I'm Not There" was pretty good

Favorite Dylan cover: Jeff Buckley's version of "Just Like a Woman"

My Dream Dylan disc contains: The DYLAN album that came out in 2007 was pretty much right on if it had contained Visions of Johanna and I want you

My top five (would need on the desert island) discs: Nashville Skyline, Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, John Wesley Harding, Street Legal

Favorite Dylan film: Does this mean that he was in? Because Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is awesome...... but the biopic I'm Not There was also awesome

Favorite "era": The Newport Folk Festival I'm going Electric and you can just deal with it era

Best live recording: Oooh Difficult not sure that I have one....wait yes I do.... his recording of "My Back Pages" at his anniversary concert with Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Roger McGuin and George Harrison

Best boots: The Basement Tapes

Best concert I ever saw... I saw him last summer (07) in Kansas City and it was one of his better performances that I've seen...he actually played the guitar for the first time in a long time

Favorite quote: All I can do is be me, whoever that is

Favorite Dylan web sites, books: I like his autobiography

Favorite Dylan memorabilia: My LP collection I have all of his albums

Bob Dylan inspires me to... speak my mind, be myself, trust in my own beliefs, hide out, be in the spotlight, make a difference, play guitar, and just do whatever feels right

Review

folkrockman — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:12:03 CDT

Time and Place ...

Date: Saturday 14th April 2007

City:Sheffield

Venue:Hallam FM Arena

The Details ...

The Reviews ...

http://www.boblinks.com/041407r.html

Mine's the top one :)